


What a tale these thoughts could tell

by WatermelonTuesdays



Series: If you could read my mind, Love [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And Keith's mind-reading, Fluff and Humor, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), His issues are Keith, M/M, Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Post-Season/Series 07, Psychic Abilities, Science Experiments, Shiro (Voltron) Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 11:31:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16597055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatermelonTuesdays/pseuds/WatermelonTuesdays
Summary: Pidge thinks Keith might be developing psychic mind-reading abilities. Shiro knows what Keith will read in his mind and he is panicking.----“But we need the one-on-one interviews to test the strength of his connection with humans.”“I’m not stopping you, Pidge.”The young spitfire stopped dead set in front of Shiro and dug in her heels, forcing him to stop with her. Her eyes burned into his, and she spoke in a low tone that was fitting for such a threat as was coming.“Shiro, you’re the only one whose mind he’s successfully read. And we both know what he read there. If you don’t test it, and help him control it, he’ll be reading all your secrets soon enough.”Shiro was a high ranking Garrison officer and would not be cowed by a 5-foot-nothing evil genius.





	What a tale these thoughts could tell

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to put part 1 as a stand alone here rated teen. Part 2 will be explicit, so keep your eyes out for it. ^_~

It had been a fleeting thought, and wholly innocent; born more out of reflex than out of any current sense of desire.

They had just finished training with the lions and the MFE fighters, and they were all taking their time unloading their gear. Keith, helmet off but otherwise in full Paladin armour, had pulled his long fingers through his hair and tied it in a quick ponytail as he crossed over to Blue to speak with Allura.

It was a passing thought, one of a million such thoughts that cross Shiro’s mind on a regular basis. _God, Keith is cute._

“I’m not cute.” Keith said it like it was a challenge, like anyone could fight him on it.

Shiro’s breath caught in his throat. Had he said it out loud?!!! But a quick glance around the room showed that everyone was giving Keith the weird look, not Shiro.

“Yeah, of course not, buddy” Lance said like the issue was never in question. Then his face lit up, “You’re like a gremlin.” His smile grew wider, “One they fed after midnight!”

Keith punched Lance softly on the arm as he walked by, spoke briefly to Allura, and beelined it to the showers. The others began to move after him, already forgetting the incident, but Shiro was caught by the inquisitive look that was stuck to Pidge’s face.

“Have you guys ever wondered if maybe Keith was slightly psychic?” She asked, effectively stalling everyone in the room. They all turned to look at her.

“Wha-what do you mean?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Well... he was drawn to the Blue lion in the desert, even though he has no affiliation with Blue. And how many times have we seen him call his bayard to his side, or move it hand to hand mid-fight? And when we all drove our lions psychically, Keith picked it up fastest the first time.” Pidge spoke evenly, laying out the evidence at hand. “Plus, he’s got that connection with Kosmo. I mean, have you ever heard him tell the wolf where to go? He just grabs him and vvvvt!” She twitched her hands to indicate teleportation.

Silence descended on them all while they contemplated the harrowing possibilities. Shiro, in particular, could feel the sweat building on his neck. He has some very good reasons why it would be a bad thing for Keith to hear his thoughts. They were not all so innocent as thinking he was cute.

“It’s not impossible,” Allura said slowly, still thinking her way through Pidge’s theory. “The Galra do have increased psychic abilities. And those abilities may have increased over the last 10000 years...”

“Soooo...” Lance grinned slyly, “who called him cute?”

Shiro felt his back straighten. Suddenly no one would look at him. They all knew.

“It’s an interesting theory, Pidge. But, maybe don’t go investigating it, hmm?” Shiro did his best to keep the tone of command out of his voice. The paladins are technically out of his jurisdiction now that he’s rejoined the garrison: Voltron is too important a symbol to “belong” to one government or race. 

“Of course not, Shiro,” Pidge replied in a tone that said she was already building the perfect test for her hypothesis. 

Shiro was out the door before he could make a bigger fool of himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Pidge started her experiments small, first holding Keith’s bayard at greater and greater distances to see from how far away he could call his weapon. Lance, Hunk, and Allura were her control group. Next, Pidge had them all give Kosmo telepathic commands to see whether it really was Keith projecting his intentions to the wolf, or if Kosmo was somehow reading Keith’s mind instead. The given commands grew steadily more ridiculous to test the limits of Kosmo’s understanding and account for his high level of intelligence.

By the end of the week, they were all standing in a circle around Keith trying to shout their thoughts at him to see if anything would stick. They had each been given an appropriately ridiculous phrase to shout so that Keith couldn’t trick the system with an educated guess.

Shiro stumbled upon one such exercise completely by accident. He was heading to the training room, coming in through the side door behind the large racks of weights and dumbbells, when he spotted the group of them in their sweats, circled around Keith, each silent but straining fit to bust.

That was not the first thing Shiro spotted, however. No, the first thing he saw was Keith’s perfectly muscled ass pulled tight in his sweatpants. 

His reaction was involuntary, just a knee jerk reaction of his id across his subconscious. _Juicy, juicy, bubble butt._ It was almost a song the way he thought it, it had a beat that lasted long after the thought.

Keith’s shout a moment later was both loud and indignant. “Guys, I do not have a juicy bubble butt!”

Shiro froze behind the weights.

“Uh, that wasn’t one of my phrases…” Pidge said.

Every eye, save for Keith’s (who was blessedly blindfolded), landed on Shiro.

Shiro was gone without a trace by the time Keith ripped the sweatband blindfold from his eyes and turned to look where the others where staring. 

~*~*~*~*~

Pidge’s final experiments were done one-on-one. 

“You haven’t given this up, yet, Pidge?” Shiro asked skeptically while the short girl practically begged him to take part in the interviews. 

“His results are amazing, Shiro. He can call his bayard from more than double the distance of the next best: Allura, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Shiro echoed noncommittally. 

“And he’s getting better with practice. His link with Kosmo is outstanding. Kosmo’s telepathy seems to be based on touch. Hunk was able to get Kosmo to phase him into the kitchen pantry when he pet him, but only Keith was able to get Kosmo to send Lance to the showers without even touching him. Not even Allura could do it. Not even Krolia!”

“That’s fascinating, Pidge, but…”

“But we need the one-on-one interviews to test the strength of his connection with humans.”

“I’m not stopping you, Pidge.”

The young spitfire stopped dead set in front of Shiro and dug in her heels, forcing him to stop with her. Her eyes burned into his, and she spoke in a low tone that was fitting for such a threat as was coming. 

“Shiro, you’re the only one whose mind he’s successfully read. And we both know what he read there. If you don’t test it, and help him control it, he’ll be reading all your secrets soon enough.”

Shiro was a high ranking Garrison officer and would not be cowed by a 5-foot-nothing evil genius.

“Juicy, Shiro,” Pidge wheedled.

“Pidge,” Shiro’s voice was pained.

“Juicy. Bubble. Butt.”

Shiro ground his teeth and slumped his shoulders. 

“Fine.”

Pidge’s grin was blinding. “You’re the best, Shiro! And don’t worry, once this is done I’m going to work on making some psychic blockers, so you can be a perv in peace.”

She darted out of reach and then out of earshot before Shiro could fully process her jab. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Keith had been playing guinea pig to Pidge’s scientific method for weeks, and it was starting to wear thin. It was interesting, sure. Maybe a little bit thrilling. But mostly it left him feeling ridiculous with a dull headache just behind his eyes. 

The solo interviews were, possibly, the most exhausting of the tests, though they were definitely the most boring. He wasn’t having much luck with them either. It was a lot of one-sided conversation on Keith’s part, asking questions and straining to pick up an unsaid response. Sometimes they would quiz him, thinking of a number or a colour or an animal, and that was a little easier.

He would have ended this a long time ago if he hadn’t had some success. He had caught a hint of a tune Hunk had sung to him. He had heard a few fuzzy words from his mother. And he was pretty sure he had caught a case of the giggles from Lance: though, if that was the price for telepathy, then Keith was out. 

The only person, so far, Keith hadn’t sat down with, was Shiro, but that was about to change. 

Though he hid it, Keith was a little excited to try this with Shiro. He didn’t really know why they hadn’t thought to start with him. It seemed the obvious choice: even with everything he had been through with the others, no one had the connection that Keith and Shiro had. It was undeniable.

Pidge was not even trying to hide her excitement for this last interview. She shone with it since morning training. She was practically bursting at the seams. Shiro did not appear to share her excitement.

She quite literally dragged Shiro into the small office she had converted into a testing area. She pushed him into his chair and locked him with a steely look that froze him in place.

If Keith didn’t know any better, he would say Shiro was sulking when Pidge told him to stay there and that she would be on the other side of the door, monitoring by video feed, if she was needed.

It was a less-than auspicious start to the interview. Keith could feel himself pulling back and closing off from Shiro’s body language alone. His back was straight, his hands in loose fists on the table. He was looking everywhere but at Keith, and the room was not so interesting as to deserve the inspection Shiro was giving it. He clearly didn’t want to be there, and Keith was not going to force him to stay.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” Keith offered, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Shiro met his eyes briefly, looking tempted by the offer, but then his eyes flashed to the door and his shoulders slumped. “Yes, we do.”

Keith cocked a half-grin, “What’s she got on you?”

“Nothing.” He said it convincingly, but Shiro’s hands slipped down from the table to his lap, and Keith could see the telltale signs of nervous fidgeting. 

Keith shrugged. Then he leaned suddenly forward. If Shiro wouldn’t tell him, maybe he could read it on him.

“Should we start?”

“That’s what we’re here for. How-” Shiro faltered, licking his lips nervously, “how do we do this?”

Keith smiled up at Shiro, catching Shiro’s grey eyes with his own. “Think of something: an animal, or a number, or something. And then scream it at me.”

Shiro arched a brow, “Scream it at you?” The hard lines of his posture started to melt and he brought his hands back up to the table.

Keith shrugged again. “Lance says the screaming helps.”

“Of course he does.” Shiro shook himself like he was loosening up to spar. He cricked his neck. “Ok. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Ok, I’m screaming about seahorses.”

“Shiro! You’re not supposed to tell me.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Shiro’s face cracked into a grin that lit up his grey eyes. For a moment, Keith lost himself in them, leaning minutely closer. 

“Why seahorses?” He leaned his chin into his hand and looked up at Shiro.

“Why not? They’re good role models.”

Keith laughed at that. “They’re fish!”

“That doesn’t mean they’re not good people, Keith.”

“Right. Of course,” Keith’s tone was more teasing than sarcastic. He could feel the mood relaxing around them. “What’s next?”

“You tell me. What am I thinking?”

They played at the guessing game for a few minutes. With each consecutive guess, Keith felt he was getting closer. He could hear something, like a whisper, far off in his mind. 

It was a frustrating feeling. Like having a word on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t think of it.

But the more the listened, the more he heard. Soon he was picking up sounds and impressions of words. 

“Mmm…” Keith hummed while he concentrated. “Hippos?” 

“Pfft, no, that’s you thinking about hippos,” Shiro teased.

“You sure? I’m pretty confident you were thinking about hippos. See?” Keith cupped his ear like he was listening to something far off, “Yup, right there. Hippos.”

“Well I am now. Cheater.”

Shiro reached across the table to tussle Keith’s hair affectionately.

Suddenly, Keith was ramrod straight in his seat. He looked at Shiro with wide eyes.

It was like someone had tuned the signal on a old CV radio. The word was still gritty and distant, but clear enough to make out.

“Mongoose.”

Shiro’s eyes grew wide and he paled noticeably. He pulled his hands back.

“G-good guess,” Shiro said after a long pause, but they both knew it wasn’t just a guess. 

“It… uh…” Keith looked flabbergasted, and maybe a little put out that Shiro had pulled away again. “It worked better with Hunk when we touched too…”

Keith laid his hands along the dead centre of the table, offering them so that Shiro could take them or leave them. 

Shiro took a breath like he was stealing himself then reached his own hand out to Keith’s. 

“Ok, I’ll think of something.”

_Think of something, think of something, think of something that’s not his butt._

“What?” Keith asked with an incredulous laugh.

Shiro looked suddenly panicked.

_Oh god! What if he can hear this? I said don’t think about his butt, Shiro! Think about not his butt._

Keith laughed. “Why would you think about my butt?”

Keith played it off as a joke, but Shiro’s increasing discomfort made his laugh die early on his lips.

“Shiro?”

Shiro was bright red with embarrassment now. He was strained from trying to actively not think about something: which everyone knows is the best way to make yourself think of nothing else.

_Stop thinking, Shiro. Just because it’s perfect, and round, and you want to bite it right on that thick cheek…_

Keith’s hands flew out of Shiro’s on their own accord.

“You want to what?!”

“I have to go!” Shiro cried, knocking his chair over in his rush up and out of the room. 

Keith followed Shiro from the room, calling after him. 

He couldn’t catch up with Shiro, so Keith settled with slowly stalking the man back to his living quarters. He took his time, knowing Shiro would likely flee to his own rooms till his embarrassment died down. He wanted to give Shiro time to calm down.

He also wanted to give himself time to adjust to this new and wonderful insight. 

Shiro wanted to bite his ass! Right on the butt cheek. 

It was a revelation. It was like the clouds had parted and the angels had sung. It was like all the wet dreams Keith had ever had might finally have the ghost of a chance of coming true. 

The knowledge made him boil over with a dangerous new power. And power had never felt so good.

The people of the universe were safe from Keith’s lust for power at the helm of Team Voltron: that was power he had never wanted for himself and had only accepted out of necessity. But Shiro would not be safe from this newfound power. It would be used and abused. Repeatedly.

Keith laughed out of nerves and excitement as he closed in on Shiro’s closed and barred door. 

He took a deep breath before he knocked. And then he knocked. And knocked again. And again. 

He called Shiro’s name through the door, asking nicely for him to open up. 

“Shiro, I know you’re in there. Don’t pretend you’re not.”

“Not right now, ok, Keith?” came Shiro’s sullen response. 

“Come on, Shiro, we need to talk about this.” Keith paused, considering his options. “I’m not leaving here until we talk.”

“Fine.”

“Fine. I’ll just wait right here. Take your time! I’ll wait as long as I have to. The galaxy can burn without me to drive the black lion – I’m not leaving till we talk.”

Keith’s threat was met with only silence.

He cursed under his breath, he had been sure that would work. A one-two combo of guilt and duty was usually a sure-fire tactic against Shiro. 

Keith settled himself down on the floor at Shiro’s door and hummed to himself while he waited out Shiro’s sense of shame. Though Shiro was mortified, Keith had never felt better. Possibly, quite literally, never better in his entire life. 

He waited a full varga before trying again. He knocked loudly on the door and called through the solid metal.

“I’m not talking about it, Keith. Please, let’s just forget it, ok?!” came Shiro’s reply.

“What? Shiro, no! I can’t just forget about it.”

“Tough.” Even with the several inches of steel between them Keith could hear the tone of finality in Shiro’s voice.

Keith’s response was to bang on the door more, calling Shiro’s name over and over.

After several dobashes he gave up the annoyance tactic. It was a flawed tactic anyway.

No, if Shiro wouldn’t respond to annoyance, guilt, or duty, the next thing to try was openness and honesty. Which, really, was Keith’s plan from the beginning; only, he intended to do it from the other side of the door.

Keith sighed and put his mouth close to the seam of the door. He took a deep breath and then started yelling as loud as he could while still staying coherent.

“Shiro’s arms are so thick I want to die. Shiro’s hands are so big, I want them everywhere. They’re big and rough and I want to use them like sandpaper on my-”

The door slid open before Keith could finish his thought, and Keith blinked to find himself inches from Shiro.

Startled, they both stepped back.

“What are you doing?” Shiro was beet red. He stuck his head out in the hallway to make sure no one had overheard Keith’s wildly inappropriate screams.

“Those are my thoughts. I thought it would only be fair for you to hear some of mine.”

Shiro eyed Keith for a moment like he thought it might be some trick. But then he nodded and stepped aside to let Keith into his room. 

“Keith… what you heard-”

“Was it true?” Keith interrupted, stepping into Shiro’s personal space the moment the door slid closed behind them.

“Uhh…” Shiro faltered.

“Mine were true.” Keith’s blue eyes captured Shiro’s, mesmerizing him. “Want to hear a few more?” 

Keith stepped forward, backing Shiro into the corner by the door.

“Shiro’s so nice to me, I don’t deserve anyone half so wonderful. Shiro’s laugh can light up my entire being. I feel like I’m flying when I hear it.”

Inch by inch, Keith closed in on Shiro, until he had to tilt his head up to keep eye contact.

His next words came out as a soft whisper. “Shiro makes my heart burn, and I will follow him to the ends of the universe. Without question.”

Gently, Keith reached out a hand to touch his long fingers along the back of Shiro’s hand. When Shiro’s hand turned at the touch, Keith twined his fingers between Shiro’s. 

His other hand slowly reached up to cup at Shiro’s face. 

“Shiro,” Keith said earnestly, “I have wanted you for as long as I’ve known you.” He cracked a grin, “So, if you want to bite my bubble butt, it’s all yours.”

Shiro laughed at that, and buried his face into Keith’s neck. He pulled Keith the last inch to close the distance between them. 

_I love you, Keith._

“I love you too, Shiro.” 

It wasn’t until he felt Shiro tense against him that Keith realized he had once again overheard Shiro’s thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I can’t really control it.”

Shiro lifted his head to look down at the man in his arms. 

“I know. We’ll figure it out now.”

“At least we have nothing to hide anymore,” Keith said, optimistically.

Shiro smiled warmly, his eyes traveling Keith’s face. 

_Kiss me,_ he thought as his eyes landed on Keith’s plush lips. 

Keith obliged without a word.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you guys think!
> 
> I usually post every 2 weeks, so expect part 2 in about 2 weeks. (Hint: it's got bottom Shiro and an unusual daddy kink). 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at WatermelonTuesdays. I don't post much, but I always post my new chapters/works


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